Airbus A-380 marks maiden visit to India

The first superjumbo Airbus A-380 plane landed here from Singapore with Singapore Airlines becoming the only global carrier to launch commercial flights of the 'big birds' to India.  The landing of the long-haul, wide-body and fully double -decker aircraft that can carry a total of 471 passengers, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport was preceded by a thunder storm and high-velocity winds that led to the diversion of 21 flights to nearby airports. On landing, the superjumbo was given a 'water-salute' by the fire brigade at the airport run by the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) which made special arrangements to handle the large number of passengers and their baggage. 

The passengers were welcomed by the SIA staff with gifts and bouquets.  'The A-380 has received an overwhelming response from the Indian travelers. This reiterates our belief in the Indian market and their aspirations to travel the world which has been the key factor for Singapore Airlines' growth story in India,' SIA general manager David Lau said at the launch of the superjumbo operations to India. The SIA's aircraft has a total seating capacity of 471 seats with 399 in economy, 60 in business class and 12 First Class suites. Of the 6,000 seats per week allowed in the bilateral air services agreement between India and the Southeast Asian city- state, SIA is estimated to use about 5,800 from Delhi and Mumbai.

Delhi and Mumbai airports had received DGCA certification and have made preparations to receive the superjumbos in terms of various services required to handle the large number of passengers these planes can carry when they land or take off.  Immigration and customs departments had made special arrangements for handling such a large number of passengers. Late January, government had cleared the deck for A-380 operations from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore, lifting a five-year-old ban. 

The restriction, which was lifted by the Civil Aviation Ministry after several years of demands by major foreign carriers, was imposed in 2008 as the government had then felt these massive jets would help foreign airlines take away a large chunk of global traffic which could be detrimental to Indian carriers' interests. Major Gulf carrier Emirates would become the second airline to deploy these Airbus A-380s from Mumbai in July. Earlier, Gulf carrier Emirates had announced the launch of its A-380 operations between Mumbai and Dubai from July 21 adding a capacity of 2,127 seats per week in each direction.

Read More

Emirates increases services to India

Emirates airline will expand its A380 network to 28 destinations, when it launches a daily A380 service to Mumbai International Airport on July 21.

EK 500 and EK 501 between Dubai and Mumbai will be up-scaled to a three-class A380 aircraft, representing with a capacity increase of 2,127 seats per week in each direction. This offers passengers flying to India from key destinations in North America and Europe the chance to experience Emirates’ hugely popular flagship aircraft on this route.

In addition, Emirates will deploy larger Boeing 777 aircraft to Delhi and Hyderabad to serve growing demand. Delhi will have 980 additional one-way weekly seats while Hyderabad will increase its capacity to add 672 one-way weekly seats.

A combined total of 3,779 one-way weekly seats will be deployed on Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad through these aircraft upgrades. This follows the recent bilateral discussions between the governments of Dubai and India, which provided a phased increase of 11,000 seats for Dubai carriers.

“Air transport is an important economic driver. It facilitates trade and tourism, and has a multiplier effect through direct and indirect job creation. Emirates has been serving India since our founding year in 1985, and it is our largest market today which we serve with 185 flights each week. We look forward to working with the new Government in India to grow India’s economy through enhanced aviation connectivity and to realize India’s ambition to grow its international aviation market to 85 million passengers by 2020,” said Ahmed Khoory, Emirates’ Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations- West Asia & Indian Ocean.

India's National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) recently modelled the impact of Emirates up-gauging daily services to Mumbai from Boeing 777s to an Airbus A380. The annual incremental economic benefit from up-gauging one service is $8.3 million in additional GDP per return flight and the creation and support of over 1,000 jobs.

The Emirates A380 operating on the Mumbai route will feature 14 private First Class suites, 76 Business Class lie-flat seats and a spacious cabin for 399 Economy Class passengers.

On board, passengers can experience a range of unique facilities in all cabins - from the Shower Spas in First Class, to the A380 Onboard Lounge where passengers in the premium cabins can relax in a social environment during the flight; as well as 11.4” touch screen LED personal TVs.

Passengers across all cabins can enjoy up to 1,800 channels of the latest movies, TV shows and music from around the world alongside a range of games on the award-winning ice inflight entertainment system. The latest technology allows passengers to stay connected throughout the flight with high-speed Wi-Fi access and mobile phone and data services.

“Many customers specifically book their flights to our destinations knowing that they will have the chance to fly on the A380. Now that Mumbai is being added to our global network of A380 destinations, I’m sure this will come as welcome news to many of our passengers across Europe and North America who can now fly all the way from their origin point of departure to Mumbai exclusively on the A380,” said Ahmed Khoory.

Emirates currently has 48 A380s in service, more than any other airline globally. Emirates received 12 of the giant double decker aircraft over the last year. More than 25 million passengers have travelled on the Emirates A380 since it was first launched in 2008.

Emirates operates 185 flights per week to 10 gateways in India. This offers travelers on Emirates global network, which includes 85 cities in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Middle East, a range of convenient flight options to one of Asia’s most exciting leisure and business destinations.

Read More

Budget carrier AirAsia plans flights in India soon

Asia’s leading budget carrier, AirAsia, is hoping to begin operations in India in two to three months, the airline’s CEO said today.

The carrier this month won court approval to operate in India after delays because of domestic airlines’ opposition. AirAsia India will begin flying with two planes, Tony Fernandes, AirAsia group chief executive officer, told reporters.

Despite a market of 1.2 billion people, airlines in India are unprofitable due to high costs and cut-throat competition. But Fernandes says AirAsia has studied the market for a long time and “we feel moderately optimistic.”

He spoke in Manila where he attended the World Economic Forum on East Asia.

He said with a new government in place, a wave of optimism and a strengthening rupee and stock market, “it’s a good time to be in India.” Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi is to be inaugurated on Monday.

“There’s a billion people there, how strange if we can’t make it work,” Fernandes said. But despite the optimism, he said the carrier will start with only two planes and “we’re just going to dip our toes, we won’t sink our whole body there.”

Read More

To combat Gulf carriers, Lufthansa may fly A380 to India from October

German carrier Lufthansa plans to start services of its high-capacity twin-deck Airbus A380 to India starting October-November this year. Lufthansa's A380 super jumbo with 526 seats will both expand capacity and lower operating costs, helping it combat the rising challenge of Gulf-based carriers like Emirates and Etihad, who have cornered a large chunk of India's 45 million inbound and outbound annual (2013) international traffic.

Two civil aviation ministry officials told FE that officials from Lufthansa recently moved an application seeking the start of A380 services from the winter 2014 schedule. The move will require a ‘minor change’ in the Air Services Agreement (ASA) with Germany, with the current system of flights per week likely being changed to seats per week and allowing A380 operations. Lufthansa currently utilises 46 of the 69 flights per week allowed under the India-Germany ASA.

“Lufthansa recently gave an application to start A380 services. A minor change is required in the ASA, which we are discussing with the external affairs ministry. There will be no change in weekly seat entitlements to Germany, so we expect this to be done by June,” the official said.

When asked for details over email, a Lufthansa statement said, “We change aircraft size according to demand in our long-haul markets and as we already operate all types of long-haul aircraft except the A380 to India, we are also looking forward to operate the A380 to India in the future. We do not have decided yet when and where we will operate the aircraft to. We always aim to be able to offer our Indian customers our top products and we aim to be able to use the variety of all aircraft in our fleet in our long haul markets.” Lufthansa currently operates aircraft like the A330, A340-300, A340-600, A380, besides the Boeing 747-400 and B747-8.

Amber Dubey, partner and India head of aerospace and defence at global consultancy KPMG, added the introduction of A380 on European routes will bring fares down, and lead to higher travel by middle-class Indians for tourism. “The introduction of A380 by Lufthansa will help bring airfares down and expand the tourist base. It may also help Lufthansa win back some business passengers that they may have lost to Gulf carriers.

An interesting battle is in the offing this winter”.

Lufthansa will be the third and likely the last airline to start A380 services to India this year, after Singapore Airlines (SIA) starts daily flights to Mumbai and Delhi from May 30 and Emirates begins its A380 services to Mumbai from July. The addition of A380s have come about after the central government lifted the ban on the high-capacity aircraft in late January this year.

While SIA will focus on the Asian markets, Lufthansa and Emirates will be the only two airlines to offer connections from Indian metros to Europe and the US on the A380, an aircraft that offers more luxury features and space than anything else in its class today. At present, only four airports in the country — Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore — have the infrastructure to handle the super jumbo.

Read More

Emirates to fly Airbus A380 to India in July

Gulf carrier Emirates plans to operate the Airbus A380 plane into Mumbai from July, taking on Singapore Airlines which is bringing the world's biggest passenger plane to India from end May. 

"Emirates plans to deploy an A380 on one of its existing daily services between Dubai to Mumbai, starting from July and is working closely with Mumbai Airport Authorities to make this deployment possible," said a spokesman for the airline. 

"In addition we have plans to upgrade existing aircraft to larger capacity Boeing 777s to Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai starting from 01 June. We will announce details shortly," he added. 

The Dubai-based carrier recently got the larger share of 11,000 weekly extra seats allowed to carriers in the two regions. The airline currently operates a total of 185 weekly flights to India. 

The Dubai-based carrier recently got the larger share of 11,000 weekly extra seats allowed to carriers in the two regions. The airline currently operates a total of 185 weekly flights to India. 

On April 7, Singapore Airlines announced it will bring the jumbo jet to India from May 30. The flights will replace those currently operated by Boeing 777 planes to the two cities. Singapore operates a total of 63 weekly flights to India. Its regional subsidiary Silk Air operates an additional 42.

Etihad's CEO James Hogan recently said the airline would at a later date bring in the aircraft to India. 

The A380 can sit 850 people in a single class configuration but usually used in a three-class offering with a seating capacity of 550-600 passengers. 

India on January 42 allowed carriers to operate the A380 to operate to four of India's airports-Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. 

A month later, it certified Mumbai as a Code-F compliant airport, which means it has a runway suitable for the A380 to land. Delhi has been Code-F certified for a few years now. 

Read More

Flyer takes wrong flight without a boarding pass from Mumbai airport

In a bizarre sequence of events that amounts to a serious breach of security, a 37-year old man who did not have an airline boarding pass managed to clear three security checkpoints and fly from Mumbai to Rajkot on a Jet Airways flight last Friday. The man was supposed to take a flight to Nagpur, but boarded the one to Rajkot, that too after leaving behind his boarding pass at the airport. After he reached Rajkot he realized he had flown to the wrong destination and informed Jet officials. The airline remained clueless till then. The incident brings into question the security arrangements at Mumbai airport made by both by the airline and CISF.

"Jet officials flew him back to Mumbai and put him on another flight to Nagpur. It is a serious breach of security, the kind that one thinks could never happen," said a source.

This man had no business being on the Rajkot flight, but none of the security checks in place zeroed in on him," he added. "We are looking into the matter," said a CISF official. At the time of going to press, Jet was yet to respond.

The incident occurred on April 25 after Liju Verghese landed in Mumbai airport from an international flight. He was booked for an onward journey to Nagpur and was supposed to board the 4.11pm Jet Airways flight 9W 2165. Verghese, who was reportedly in an inebriated state, cleared the CISF security check at domestic terminal 1B of the Mumbai airport. With the security-stamped boarding pass and a handbag, he then proceeded to the security hold area to wait for the boarding announcement. Meanwhile, a boarding call was made for the JetKonnect Mumbai-Rajkot flight 9W 4079 scheduled for a 3.25pm departure from gate number A2 of domestic terminal 1C. The passengers were to board the Rajkot flight using an aerobridge.

That is when things spiralled into a different direction. "The man left behind his handbag, which also contained his boarding pass and for some reason proceeded to board the flight to Rajkot," said a source. First, he managed to walk past Jet's customer service staff entrusted with what's called "passenger reconciliation". It is a mandatory security procedure done to ascertain whether the number of passengers who check in for a given flight is equal to the number of passengers who have boarded the aircraft. The airline staffers manually check the seat numbers on each boarding pass and tally it with the data they gather from their check-in desks.

"That he crossed this security check is surprising. For, this was a passenger who was not supposed to be on that flight and those at this security checkpoint are supposed to spot such cases," said a source. Next, Verghese managed to get past the CISF security personnel who check whether the boarding pass and the tags on the hand baggages of passengers have the CISF's security-cleared stamp. Then, prior to entering the aircraft, Jet's security personnel man the doors to verify whether all passengers are carrying the boarding passes for the right destination, whether their boarding passes and baggage tags carry the CISF security stamp. Verghese crossed that barrier as well.

On entering the aircraft Verghese randomly chose a seat and sat down only to be questioned by a passenger who claimed that seat. "He got up and gave the seat to the said passenger. The flight attendant present in the vicinity did not bother to enquire about Verghese's boarding pass to find out his seat number. He was told to occupy any vacant seat available," said the source.

Lastly, a head count of passengers is supposed to be taken to tally it with the number of passengers entered in what's called a Load and Trim sheet. It is essentially a register of weights and their location inside an aircraft. It carries details like the total number of people onboard, total baggage weight, weight of fuel uploaded, etc. "While a final headcount is judiciously taken on international flights, on many domestic flights the practice is not diligently followed," said an official. Had a headcount been taken, they would have figured out that flight had one unaccounted passenger on board—a very serious situation from the security point of view.

It was after the flight landed and the passenger disembarked and found himself in Rajkot instead of Nagpur that the airline realized what had happened. Meanwhile, the Mumbai-Nagpur flight that he was supposed to board departed, but not before finding out that one passenger who had checked in had not reported for boarding. His check-in bags were removed from the aircraft and left at Mumbai airport for a security check. That was the only thing that went as per the laid-down security norms.

Read More

Airbus Estimates India Will Needs Over 1,290 Aircraft In The Next 20 Years

Indian carriers will require 1,290 new passenger aircraft valued at US$190 billion between now and 2032 to satisfy surging annual demand, according to Airbus’ latest market forecast. Indian annual passenger traffic growth rates of 8.6 per cent are well above the regional Asia Pacific average growth rate of 6.1 per cent and the world average 4.7 per cent.

Of the requirement for 1,290 new aircraft, some 73 per cent will be for growth and 27

Read More